Sean Osterman
Dr.Johns
11/5/08
On every account of morality, it is some form of conduct passed down from a mature being in our life. Every person has their own set of morals to help them determine what is right and wrong. In “Lilith’s Brood”, by Octavia Butler, there is one instance where morals are a huge factor in determining the excistance of humans. Humans approach a situation where they have to determine whether or not to reproduce with a non-human life or face extinction. Of course due to diverse morals there is an immense controversy. This is much related to the controversy of today with engineering humans to make us the “perfect species”. If the humans in “Lilith’s Brood” decide to reproduce with another species other than human, the meaning behind life will completely vanish. The same idea follows with genetic engineering; if we create the ultimate human, than the meaning of life will vanish.
Lee M. Silver, author of “Challenging Nature”, would argue that by creating the perfect human, our lives will only increase in pleasure and the meaning will not decrease. Silver fails to realize that most accomplishments will lose its meaning because humans will no longer have to work for anything. It’s as if the perfect human will dehumanize our species. This can be seen in “Lilith’s Brood” because though the humans are reproducing and continuing their existance, can they even be considered apart of the human species?
I have always known a human as being born from another human. Bill Mckibben, author of “Enough”, is on the side of the people known as resisters in “Lilith’s Brood”. These people are against reproduction with the alien species. McKibben believes that the value of a human will decrease if the infant is not bron from a mother and instead a test tube or a foreign species. If Mckibben were in this situation he would take extinction over being half human. Unfortunatly the humans in “Lilith’s Brood” depend upon this alien species for survival. Morals will have to be put aside to continue the survival of human existance.
Though a choice may seem to be idiotic or irrational, these choices are made on what is believed to be most beneficial to the individual or the entire species. Morals keep us in line as if they are mandatory to side with. Humans rarely go against their morals resulting in a clear conscience. Morality is an increadible asset to the human species and will continue to benefit the decision making under the most extreme conditions.
2 comments:
Sean,
I like the concept of this essay a lot, it makes many good points, but you seem to go off in tangents and get a little off topic. In order to make it a little more organized, I would discuss how the meaning of life would vanish if the humans reproduced with the Oankali. You mention this in your opening point, but you never really back up it up with examples of from the text. It seems that the humans that do not reproduce with the Oankali live meaningless life’s, especially in the case of “Adulthood Rights.” The ‘resisters’ are unable to reproduce, and are very unhappy. Some ended their own lives, and others ran away. You also discuss how the humans that reproduce with the Oankali cannot even be considered human anymore. Those that reproduced seemed to live a much more human life, than the “resisters.” They reproduced, had babies, cared for their young, socially interact, and live in a family atmosphere. The resisters live more like cavemen and animals than humans. You mention morals when discussing reproducing with another species, and deem it at immoral to reproduce with the Oankali. I would argue that it is not immoral to increase the likelihood of human survival on Earth by reproducing with the Oankali. Though it is certainly different, I believe that this alternative is better than the alternative of living like the “resisters.” Those people have completely lost their morals due to their inability to live a normal human life. They are perfectly content stealing a baby in order to use the baby as trade bait. Overall, I thought it was a solid first draft, but you should try to stay on point a little better, while bringing in more examples from the text to back up your arguments.
Sean Osterman
Dr.Johns
11/5/08
On every account of morality, it is some form of conduct passed down from a mature being in our life. Every person has their own set of morals to help them determine what is right and wrong. In “Lilith’s Brood”, by Octavia Butler, there is one instance where morals are a huge factor in determining the excistance of humans. Humans approach a situation where they have to determine whether or not to reproduce with a non-human life (The Oankali) or face extinction. Of course due to diverse morals there is an immense controversy. The Oankali are pushing this onto the humans because if they don’t species will become extinct. If the humans in “Lilith’s Brood” decide to reproduce with another species other than human, could this decision be considered moral?
Some will say that yes due to the sole fact that the human species is still in existance. A human child is the result of two other humans reproducing. Yes, these creatures can act, feel, communicate, and live their daily lives like humans, but that cannot change the fact that they are not one-hundred percent human. Unfortunatly there are those who chose to reproduce with the Oankali because they are too afraid of death.
I have always known a human as being born from another human. Bill Mckibben, author of “Enough”, is on the side of the people known as resisters in “Lilith’s Brood”. These people are against reproduction with the alien species. Resisters live like animals because they are the few that want nothing to do with this Oankali “trade”. McKibben believes that the value of a human will decrease if the infant is not bron from a mother and instead a test tube or a foreign species. If Mckibben were in this situation he would take extinction over being half human. Unfortunatly the humans in “Lilith’s Brood” depend upon this alien species for survival. Regardless of what happens the human species will become extinct.
Though a choice may seem to be idiotic or irrational, these choices are made on what is believed to be most beneficial to the individual or the entire species. Morals keep us in line as if they are mandatory to side with. Humans rarely go against their morals resulting in a clear conscience. Morality is an increadible asset to the human species and will continue to benefit the decision making under the most extreme conditions.
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